by Anna Sheftel It's that time of year again, when the air is getting warm, the grass is getting green, and colourful frisbees are getting thrown around with lots of enthusiasm. It's also that time of year when I have just a week left of classes and I am constantly contemplating skipping all of them in favour of some much-needed sunbathing. The green spaces on campus are finding themselves full of joyful young people kicking off the shoes and frolicking in their little sundresses and cut-offs, with guitars and hackisacks in hand. My classes have found themselves a little empty. Go fig.   Yes, it's around this time of year that I begin questioning the educational system yet again. The disillusionment always comes back (and it's more fun to write about than the freaking philosophy paper that I should be working on right now). The thing is, I am constantly underwhelmed by the job that the system is doing around here, and it makes me wonder quite seriously why we bother going through it all. What do we have to gain?   The CEGEP system that we have here in Quebec, which consists of two years after high school and before college, is a big joke. It was designed in the sixties with the best of intentions; they wanted to give young people a chance to explore and test different waters before they figured out what they wanted to pursue. That's a fabulous idea, and considering how many kids walk into universities with no clue as to what they want to learn or why they're even there, it seems like it would really help. Unfortunately, the real system is so far from that idealistic goal that it's laughable, and instead of clueless kids in universities, all you've got are the same clueless kids in CEGEPs. Unsurprisingly enough, they're dropping out like flies.   In terms of giving students space to "explore" and discover their fields of interest, CEGEP flunks big time. It's as narrow and unilaterally career-oriented as always. You pick an area, you stick to that area, and the bureaucracy makes goddamn sure you don't try and move anywhere else. Ask a Fine Arts student how easy it is for them to take a physics course. Or ask a Health Sciences student how likely it is that they could learn some cinema. These administrators have such an elaborate bureaucracy in place that you have to pick your rut, and sit in it quietly if you wanna get out of there in 2 years.   In any case, most kids enter the system with no idea why they're there, just following along like sheep, because it's the natural way to go after they've made it out of high school. They're not interested in anything they're studying, they're not interested in expanding their horizons, hell, they're just not interested in education at all. Who/what do we blame for this? Maybe the fact that as soon as they've recovered from their graduation night hangovers, a bunch of 17-year-olds are shoved into a massive and messy educational system, expected to emerge as Rhodes scholars after two years.   When I look around, I see that that's just not going to happen. Because when I look around I see: standardized bullshit requirements shoved down our throats by some lobotomized government officials who decide they know how to run our schools, brilliant teachers who find themselves disillusioned by the weight of bureaucratic regulations which stifle their futile attempts to actually teach something, half-assed teachers who never should have passed elementary school, much less have gotten teaching certificates, a gigantic building with no ventilation and no opening windows, which is the most fucking awful environment to thrust 8000 or so young people in, etc... This is a place for some "quick-fix" learning, that tries to get you in and out and into a dead-end job as fast as possible. This is no place to acquire a "thirst for knowledge".   I find myself drifting off to my idealistic fantasies of a real educational system where learning is encouraged and interesting, and where knowledge is respected, not shoved into a stuffy classroom with a disgruntled teacher. I see visions of Socrates inspiring youth in the marketplace, with crowds of captivated townspeople gathering around him to hear. I see young Da Vincis transfixed by everything that there is possible to learn about, and not pigeonholing themselves into some lame little category. I see nature and life experience and passion and trust and respect and cooperation and a system which nurtures knowledge, and doesn't make it the most unattractive proposition on earth.   I had a teacher last semester tell me that if I was going to go anywhere academically, I would have to deal with the fact that learning gets boring and tedious. I refuse to accept that ludicrous idea. He's forgetting that education is not supposed to be a chore. I think of some amazing and inspiring programs that I have witnessed. There is one at my school where student study third world countries, and by the end of their studies take a trip and work in Nicaragua. There is another one where students play a part in deciding what there classes are about and how they are taught. There is proof that it can be done. School can be fun!   The CEGEP system is very sick, though, and I cannot help but hypothesize that its problems are not isolated. From everything I've witnessed in my time as a student, our form of institutionalized and standardized learning is not doing anyone any good. I am someone who adores learning new things, and who savours the very subjects that I am studying at the moment- but still, I find myself questioning daily, why I bother. What am I getting out of this experience besides a few trivial facts and a lot of cynicism? Am I really, like they promise me, learning to think?   I'm not quite sure when in history we took a wrong turn and found ourselves in the land of exam booklets and bars on windows, but I wish we'd find our way back to thought-provoking, inspiring, humanistic academics. Maybe that would put an end to fake doctors' notes and teacher strikes. Or maybe I'm just bitter because my history teacher refuses to take our class outside into the sunshine.